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Category: Reviews

The Dark Knight Returns. Arguably one of the best comic book stories every written, especially when it comes to Batman or Superman. This seemed to be the template leading up to Batman v Superman’s release. Batman’s suit(s) and build were ripped from the pages of the aforementioned book, and the title itself told fans what to expect.

I’m coming from the perspective of an avid comic book reader who happens to also enjoy comic book films. Seeing as BvS is also a comic book film, I’m going to review it with the mind-set that it is based on a solid foundation of rules and lore that should respectfully be followed. I’m also not going to go into too much detail so I don’t ruin anything for future viewers.

So let’s begin.

This was the second showing at my local cinema, I was sitting next to a guy who offered me a Twix bar, and my first thought was, I hope that this Twix isn’t better than this film. It didn’t start off well. For the first ten minutes of the film the projection was out of focus. So it was like watching the film through the eyes of someone who really needed glasses but refused to put them on. Then it was fixed, and we began from the beginning. It was like the transition from potato to 4K. Admittedly the premise was set up well, though I had already seen it in the trailer. Then from there it just got random.

It’s like the writers had an idea, and thought, “Now how can we link every major character to this idea?” went from there and left that same idea in the middle of the story. This is probably because there is a hell of a lot going on. As the second film in this new DC Cinematic Universe behind Man of Steel it shouldn’t have had this much weight on it to set up the entirety of the following movies, but I understand that Warner Brothers are trying to play catch up to Disney and Marvel. Small(er) steps would have been better.

The problem with the plot isn’t that it’s convoluted. There are a number of random plot points that are obviously thrown in to set up things for the future, but its done in a way that breaks up the main narrative and adds literally nothing to the story. Nothing at all. Literally.

Forgive me for comparing this to Deadpool but bear with me. Deadpool was a film that thought was maybe a bit too small in scale, but it benefited from that, especially since a sequel can become bigger and better than its predecessor. BvS is guilty of doing too much. While it is fun to see some of these strange scenarios through, they didn’t offer anything.

What they did get right were the visuals however. Zack Snyder is most notably known for 300, Watchmen and Man of Steel which are striking visually and with the except of Man of Steel have a comic book feel. With this film though it gets a bit grey at times. It tries to be dark and brooding a lot of the time and can be tonally awkward. Batman (Ben Affleck) is pulled off well and is accurately reminiscent of TDKR. If his first proper scene is what the future Batman film may be like, then I look forward to it. SPOILER ALERT But Batman is blatantly killing people? Come on, I know he’s older and angry but he doesn’t compromise his morals. SPOILER END.

Superman (Henry Cavill) is Superman and we all know how that is. Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) feels tacked on and doesn’t really have an identity except to have the Justice League trinity together, but Gadot does her as much justice as she can. The one thing that they kind of managed to implement was the political and moral side to the destruction Superman leaves in his wake, though it doesn’t affect Batman in the slightest. Lex Luthor comes off more like The Riddler than the calm, composed genius he is (ding, ding, ding). But that’s neither here nor there.

Doomsday happens to be the biggest farce of the whole movie. Once you watch it (and you know who Doomsday is) you’ll see why. He’s The Incredible Hulk’s Abomination except not as good. He doesn’t even talk.

When I say that this movie is a set-up, I mean in terms of narrative. It’s an overlong introduction to the dawn of the Justice League (pun intended) and it deserved more attention to detail than it got. Snyder has said that there is supposed to be an Ultimate Cut with over half an hour of footage, and maybe that will make it better than the theatrical version. I can only hope. By the end I knew the answer to whether the Twix was better, and It wasn’t. But at least it was worth it.

P.S. There is no after credit scene. Go home.

4.9/10.0

Before today I’d never listened to a Toro Y Moi project, even off of the recommendation of a friend I put it off. And I’ve finally taken the plunge. Another surprise release (not from Toro, I mean in general) comes in the form of Samantha not knowing what to expect at all.

That was a slight lie it seems, as the sound is kind of what I expected from him. It’s either his name or the fact that artists that are hidden from the limelight often incorporate a sound somewhat original but is unoriginal in that it’s expectedly old school, expectedly strange, expectedly… expected. Not to detract from the music though, the sounds are refreshing in comparison with the same music heard day to day on the radio. It’s reminiscent of Soulection production, it feels Sango infused.

Identity wise, by the time I got to track four I wasn’t sure what Toro’s artistry actually was, whether it was rapping, singing, production or all three [Editor’s Note: After research I’ve come to find he is indeed a producer]. The songs are concise for the most part as there are twenty tracks which saves the album from being exhausting. An early highlight is Pitch Black which has a funky drumline and a plethora of effects which keep it different and infectious throughout.

The consistency of the project is welcome as the sounds are pleasant on the ear without getting overdone. This is helped by the mixing of the album which as you may know I adore when done well. The features perform well and fit their representative tracks perfectly, singing with an auto-tune less Young Thug and more Kanye (no T-Pain I’m afraid). Stoned at the MOMA is a favourite of mine in the way it uses the sample, the percussion and the guitar sweetening the package.

One thing that this project excels at is capturing an ambience all its own. Its production is dark but not so dark that you feel like you’re wallowing in the sins of somebody else, and provides ample enough groove to make you feel good all at once. This is a project worth listening to, especially considering that it’s free, and what do you have to lose with things that are free? There is time you can, I’ll give you that, but you won’t be, trust me.

8.0/10

Since the initial announcement of the Attack on Titan live action film, many were excited. Then the first trailer was released and then everybody was sceptical. I wasn’t particularly swayed either end but for the problems at hand were big problems.

Let me begin by saying that it could be worse. It stays largely faithful to the source material, and because obviously the source material is very good, the story remains decent at all times. However, because of the medium that a film is everything moves very fast in comparison with both the series and [I assume] the manga. This kind of helps the film, but it doesn’t aid the story, and those that have seen the series will be wondering where everything went.

The fact of the run time [which is about 1 hour 30 minutes] being short means that character development is at a loss. Eren is just an angry teenager, Mikasa is a mysterious mostly absent teenage girl, and Armin is still the nerd of the group who is surprisingly less irritating and useless than his animated counterpart. The Survey Corps members, who had a relatively fleshed out development cycle of their own are all introduced in literally one scene when they’re all about to undergo their first mission.

The world is more post-apocalyptic compared to the manga/show which I think makes sense considering the whole world went to pot. Apparently 100 years wasn’t long enough for the world to get back into tip top shape. It helps maintain the aesthetic throughout but for purists it won’t bode well. One thing this film retains however is the violence, and because now it is live action, it’s much more visceral, when the effects hold up that is.

Ever since the release of the first trailer there were many comments on the CGI, especially surrounding the Colossus Titan (shownbelow). In its final form I just accepted the fact that a limited budget would leave the titans looking a bit lacklustre in comparison with bigger budget films. The smaller titans do look batter though, and look clapped [see: ugly] enough to be scary, and because they’re based on the likeness of humans I suspect it was easier to recreate them, although they look kind of janky when eating people and whatnot. The practical effects hold up better though, blood and the like.

The film revels in the fact that the story is a grim one, spare the odd gleeful time here and there and turns it up all the sadness all the way to the top. There are the odd times of goodness which are ended almost instantly by someone being eaten or pulled apart or something. It’s also a more mature film than the series in that there’s more adult orientated content. There is one particular scene where a new female character, Hiana gets Eren to feel up on her and well, that gets ruined as well.

THAT scene involving Armin and Eren is alright I guess, I was taken aback because you know, it’s real. But the fact that everything happens in real time [and quickly] takes away from the surprise and suspense of certain events unfolding. Some of the changes are a bit strange as well. I understand that the makers probably wanted to differentiate itself from the other mediums some of them were just strange. For example, this love triangle between Mikasa, Eren and Shikishima I felt was misplaced and was a bit creepy.

If you’re interested in getting into the Attack on Titan lore I suggest that you please do not start with the films (the second part is supposed to come out later on this year), as it just isn’t representative of the quality of the show [this could change with the second part though]. But if you’re just looking for entertainment, than yeah it’s definitely entertaining without too much to think about. Just don’t expect the Attack on Titan series.

5.0/10

I don’t know a lot about Jack Garratt other than he sings very well. I heard his single The Love You’re Given on a Beats 1 show a while back and decided to look for some of his music, because I liked it (obviously) and I found that he had released an EP this year entitled Synesthesiac. Synaesthesia by the way is a “condition” for want of a better word (apparently Pharrell says that he has it) which allows one stimulant to activate an unrelated response. For example, a common one had by many including myself is that listening to music can make one see colours, each represented by a different sound. So I’m going to use this particular thing to review this EP and let you all in on what colours are popping until the music [is] stop[ing]s.

To begin we have Synesthesia Pt.1. we’ve started off with some light blue tones as soft piano and guitar swims blissfully through the ears, then out of nowhere horns of orange blaze like fires in the night through a forest. The amalgamation of sounds varying from vinyl scratches to faint background violin and the digital sounds at play make for a work of art. During the second outro the blue hues come back in along with the greens as they pulse and rise at the preparation of a drop that never comes along.

Instead it bleeds fluidly into the next song, The Love You’re Given and Garratt’s voice is heard above the repeated high pitched sample. At the moment the sounds match the cover art. The bass covers our canvas in thick greens that mix with the light blue. Digital highs bring along pink streaks over the paint. Garratt’s vocals are a falsetto well practiced and confident in its usage as it repeats throughout the second drop. I’m surprised that he fit this amount of sounds into a song that I thought was supposed to be a slow jam kind of song. I appreciate the live drums at the end.

The mixing of this project makes for an arresting listen as each song blends so well into each other. I’m glad more people are appreciating that mixing is just as important as the songs themselves. Chemical starts off with deep purples, as the deep vocals provide a depth to the production, then we get into UK Garage territory and it gets heavy with the oranges, and the purples mix with them to create a colour that I can’t think of a name for right now. Purange. That will do. The song jitters and stutters for a while, my head bobs and the paints jump like when tiny polystyrene balls are put on top of a speaker.

Deep blues for the Lonesome Valley. The bass usage is increased as the song goes on, then stagnates then hits harder than ever before. It’s quite maddening really. Trying to figure out what will happen next that is. A random saxophone may pop up and work so well you don’t want to see it leave. Then other things happen and you forget about everything else. Let’s just bring in all of the colours shall we because I can’t keep track.

I like that most of the times, I only come across good music, and while I want to be fair and review things badly. That’s just not fair when it’s too good not to give its dues. Anyway, Jack Garratt has a new fan. His name is Aiden, and you should be one too. Listen to the EP below!

9.0/10

Last year, FKA twigs (FKA stands for Formerly Known As) released her first full length LP, LP1 and gained critical success along with more of a following, which was boosted further by her relationship with the guy from Twilight that ironically hates Twilight (EDIT: Robert Pattinson is his name). It was actually T-Pain who sparked my interest in her as he tweeted about one of her EP’s and because he’s a musical genius I thought that he’d have good taste in music, and I was right. Well, he was right.

Now, her latest project entitled M3LL15X comes in the form of her third EP, though I wish that it was called EP3, akin to both EP1/2 but oh well. I’m giving myself 19 minutes to write this which is also the length of the EP. Here goes!

First we begin with Figure 8 which was premiered on Zane Lowe’s segment of Beats 1 Radio. As usual, twigs’ voice is airy and fierce at the same time and she utilises her high pitched voice as a contrast to the dark sounds, spacey sounds. There is so much going on and the way that everything works together is impressive, I imagine this is what being on drugs would be like for 3 minutes and 3 seconds with how strange and unpredictable the song is.

I’m not going to lie, it takes a lot for me to understand FKA twigs sometimes. The production sometimes overpowers her voice, or the effects on her voice, while making it an arresting listen make it more effort than it should be to listen to the lyrics. If she took Cookie Lyon’s advice and put the vocals of top of the track then I think that it would be less of a problem. I’m Your Doll sounds like it’s supposed to be sexy but it’s not. It’s a harsh sounding song which makes sense considering the lyrics “Rough me up/I’m your doll.” Which is mostly what I could catch during my listen. Just in case you were wondering, when listening to projects I prefer to hear the lyrics first hand as opposed to reading them but it can’t work all of the time I suppose.

In Time is fierce. It’s actually quite a traditional love song but from the first bass drop I was thinking, “Yeah, this song yeah. Yeah. Wheel up the tune.” The drums which cascade from left to right are maddeningly infectious. This is actually a song to be played in the rave. Then the beat changes and it goes to a whole other level. You know what, this is my favourite song. I can see myself singing this often. You know those songs that deserve to be long? This is one of those songs.

Ironically, Glass & Patron feels fragile at the beginning, and then the beat kicks in and after the initial drop where all the sounds clash it comes in sounding like a classic noughties UK based party song reminiscent of Babycakes. Twigs’ resident producer Boots is a mad genius. How can one person throw so many flavours into one song? He’s like a UK Timbaland/Kanye hybrid, and the fact that both of these people bounce so well off of each other is strong.

The last song which is Mothercreep reminds us that FKA will be with us soon. Hopefully. I’m ready for this new album now I can’t refute and this just released. When I next go to a party I want to hear this song after the first drop to fade in from Drake’s Hotline Bling. Any DJ’s who read this make it happen. It ended too soon.

All in all I think that I actually like this more than I did the album, which is always a plus because that means that as an artist she’s getting better. With the climate of music at the moment as well, FKA twigs manages to be different enough from the crowd to still be a compelling artist to listen to. My body is ready for what’s next. Listen to the EP Below!

8.7/10

Produced entirely by Adrian Younge who has produced Twelve Reasons to Die / II with Ghostface Killah, the [amazing] score for the movie Black Dynamite and more, comes Bilal’s fifth album, In Another Life.

At 39 minutes this is Bilal’s shortest project so far. It begins with a reggae like bass line and deep vocals, mirroring the lyrical content on Sirens II [likely the second iteration of the same song]. The songs content seems like a precursor of what to expect of the rest of the album, especially considering the societal climate we are in today, where sirens are picking off black people left right and centre. But Bilal is still Bilal and where there is pain, there is also love.

If you have heard Younge’s previous work then you’d know what to expect. For the uninitiated, what is on offer is a very rugged sound. Live instrumentation, reminiscent of the Blaxploitation 70’s/80’s film period. The sounds however don’t overpower Bilal’s voice but if anything it compliments it more than his previous sounds. He’s always been a raw acoustic artist in terms of musical artistry, and like D’Angelo with Black Messiah, Adrian Younge’s production turns it up some more notches.

Open Up The Door takes the album into upbeat territory, as the songs moves at a fast pace that makes you want to step. I Really Don’t Care sounds as if you were listening to it in a café, sipping on a cold brew in summertime with a pastry in front of you, letting the breeze flow through your locks, or your scalp whichever is your flavour. Just relaxed. Relaxed, in love and on point.

Pleasure Toy is perhaps my favourite song, and as Big K.R.I.T. spits, “It’s hard to be subtle when you want what you want”. The song isn’t crass, but is another groove that is both an ode to the body and the power of music. The production is airy, light and the backing instruments I believe, do more for the songs atmosphere than what’s upfront, the piano in particular, while the synths add more to the groove.

Bilal is known for using his voice is an integral part of the track as opposed to just laying down verses, and the harmonies lay thick on the entire album, and his voice compliments the sound of each track you’d think there were different performers for each song. He goes from smooth soul man on Satellites to screaming on the chorus of Lunatic, intertwined with wispy voiced verses.

After working with Kendrick on both To Pimp A Butterfly and the excellent Colbert Report performance of Untitled, it made sense for them to work together again for the song Money Over Love. This song is full of energy, and Kendrick spits rapid fire lyrics complete with a backing choir to back up his words. “The best things in life ain’t free.”

I’d never heard of Kimbra prior to her feature on Holding It Back but her performance was a strong one, complementing the feel of the song perfectly, as well as Bilal’s voice, it provided a softer, almost vulnerable contrast. Spiralling’s lyrics really feel like he is losing control of himself, but the way he sings it is filled with a contentedness in his weaknesses. Strong.

As Bilal continues to explore with his sound and grow as an artist, he always makes for an interesting listening experience. With this project he stripped down the elements of music (with the help of Younge) and made them his own. It’s timeless music, and deserves at least on listen if only to appreciate the sounds at hand. Listen to the album below!

8.4/10

Having been recently featured on Flying Lotus’ You’re Dead! And Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly it is the perfect time for Thundercat to release his own project since 2013’s Apocalypse. The Beyond / Where the Giants Roam is his third release on the Brainfeeder label, shared with the likes of Kamasi Washington who also released his debut album The Epic earlier this year.

Before listening to this I didn’t know that Thundercat actually sang, which left me in a state of ignorance, but he has a very good voice. It’s high tone and works for the atmosphere of each song. The first track Hard Times is a sparse one, filled (or left with) airy guitar strings throughout. As the mini album plays on, it flows effortlessly. Midway through Song for the Dead is a musical tempest which had me in a trance, it was a literal musical storm which broke into the second half of the songs guitar instrumental back up by more natural wind like sounds.

Though the sound of the project is consistent each song stands out on their own, with Them Changes introducing itself with a funky bass line and a rolling guitar chord. This differentiation between sounds makes for an interesting listen, but you have to listen. I found myself having to listen multiple times just to grasp the themes and different sounds of the project. The fact that it’s so short (clocking in at just 17 minutes), and so mellow means that it can just pass you by with each listen.

Them Changes I approaches the theme of love with lyricism that is closer to poetry than traditional R&B. Metaphors abound effortlessly and they aren’t the cheap variety either. The very first line is something that I could hear Jack Sparrow saying, and whether or not that’s a good thing or a bad thing, you can’t refute its strength, “Nobody move/There’s blood on the floor/And I can’t find my heart/Where did it go/Did I leave it in the cold”

Now, Lone Wolf and Cub tackles the theme of loneliness and perhaps the most funky and drawn out method possible. Even though it’s drawn out and lacks a lot of substance lyrically, the musicianship here backs up those things that are lacking.

[Editors Note:Lone Wolf and Cub is a manga created by the writer Kazuo Koike, and artist Goseki Kojima which is about Ogami Ittō who was disgraced and forced to become an assassin. He then decides to take revenge on the clan who planned his disgrace, and brings along his three year old son, and together become… Omnimon! (Lone Wolf and Cub). So maybe Thundercat plans to take revenge on somebody, I guess we’ll never know unless it hits the news.]

The last two songs, That Moment and Where the Giants Roam / Field of the Nephilim are a smooth exit to the 6-set of songs. The former, has a fitting title due to its length, and is as sparse if not more so than the introduction, and the latter which is another short song, has shimmering production, although the lyrics are almost nonsensical but I don’t mind because they sound beautiful. “Where the dragons from?/Not in your mind/Somewhere between space and end/Watching, waiting for their time.” Maybe Thundercat is also part of the LoveDragon producer group and is awaiting his time to shine? We’ll find out in the next episode hopefully. This small project is most likely a teaser of what is to come, and while it is a snippet it’s a good insight. A foray into the strange and wonderful mind of Thundercat, and I’d like another trip. Listen to the project below!